I'm starting the very first of the 2016 garden this weekend. Planted seeds for celery root, parsley, spinach, lettuce, radicchio, kale, chard, leeks and onions. Then last night I made seed mats for beets and parsnips. These are paper towels with the seeds glued on with Elmer's at the proper planting spacing, so I can just put them in the garden and cover with a layer of soil. Way faster

My seed order arrived today, choosing what new, unusual vegetable to try each year is always fun (yellow cucumbers this time round.)

I would've guessed Boise had colder winters than the east of England and we wouldn't normally sow even 100% hardy stuff until February, the soil just doesn't warm up enough for anything to germinate for a while.

Stuffed the dogs' beds that were getting flat with old down comforters we never use.

My dog's bed looks like the princess and the pea now. Anytime a flannel sheet wears out or a comforter gets lumpy and stained beyond repair,into the dog bed it goes. I think she's up to like 9 layers. Sucks for washing, but it's very soft and warm, and makes me feel less bad about low heat in our house with an old dog.

Did you sew it in all fancy like, or just stack it on like me? We just tuck everything inside an old fitted sheet that wore out.

Convinced my wife that spending so much money on restaurant and convenience meals every weekend is not good, after she asked me if I had planned anything special for dinner while watching the game (Danger, Will Robinson!) I said maybe nachos. She was scheming planning to take our daughter out to dinner, and instead conned her mother into paying invited her mother to dinner. It's really a slog trying to wean the family off of the lifestyle inflation of the past few years, but I'll take it as a small victory.

My husband also loves to go out to eat. I made a point of learning how to make his favorite restaurant meals from scratch. Perhaps you could learn to do the same ?

Convinced my wife that spending so much money on restaurant and convenience meals every weekend is not good, after she asked me if I had planned anything special for dinner while watching the game (Danger, Will Robinson!) I said maybe nachos. She was scheming planning to take our daughter out to dinner, and instead conned her mother into paying invited her mother to dinner. It's really a slog trying to wean the family off of the lifestyle inflation of the past few years, but I'll take it as a small victory.

My husband also loves to go out to eat. I made a point of learning how to make his favorite restaurant meals from scratch. Perhaps you could learn to do the same ?

That's a great idea! I have stepped up my cooking level lately (to the point of getting complaints that dinner is late :-) ), so I know I can add to my repertoire.

Yesterday, we went on a date into the city, with museum tickets provided by my employer. We decided to drive in and park at a downtown lot, which would cost the same as parking at the train station and taking the train. Then I scored a free spot right near the parking garage, so saved $15. We did go out to eat with a Christmas present gift card, which ended up having double the value we anticipated, so we escaped relatively unscathed, and with full bellies and more cultured brains.

I'm starting the very first of the 2016 garden this weekend. Planted seeds for celery root, parsley, spinach, lettuce, radicchio, kale, chard, leeks and onions. Then last night I made seed mats for beets and parsnips. These are paper towels with the seeds glued on with Elmer's at the proper planting spacing, so I can just put them in the garden and cover with a layer of soil. Way faster

My seed order arrived today, choosing what new, unusual vegetable to try each year is always fun (yellow cucumbers this time round.)

I would've guessed Boise had colder winters than the east of England and we wouldn't normally sow even 100% hardy stuff until February, the soil just doesn't warm up enough for anything to germinate for a while.

Very true; I should have clarified that the ground is frozen solid right now and I'm starting seeds indoors. Some of the seedlings will go out in the greenhouse in 5-6 weeks, and then I'll start planting cold-hardy stuff outside around mid-March. This is the earliest I've started things since moving to this area, but I'm hoping it will pay off, and I'll be able to make way for starting the warm weather seedlings in February/March for ~May 1 planting outside.

I ordered my seeds for the garden. (Ok, so I spent money, but it'll pay off)

I'm also finishing work early (working from home today) so that I can shovel out the ******** driveway before my husband gets home with the toddler, instead of paying Local Tractor Dude 30$ to do it. Saving on gym memberships AND snow removal .

Very true; I should have clarified that the ground is frozen solid right now and I'm starting seeds indoors. Some of the seedlings will go out in the greenhouse in 5-6 weeks, and then I'll start planting cold-hardy stuff outside around mid-March. This is the earliest I've started things since moving to this area, but I'm hoping it will pay off, and I'll be able to make way for starting the warm weather seedlings in February/March for ~May 1 planting outside.

Makes sense. It's good to extend the growing season as much as possible. May 1st would be a few weeks too early for us to plant anything susceptible to frost outside, so there's no real advantage to starting things now unless you heat your greenhouse.

Lack of light is also a killer for us when it comes to starting seedlings early; the days are short (6-7hrs) and it's often pretty grey, so seedlings tend to get very leggy if started too soon, unless you have growlights. I'd expect that's much less of an issue for you.

Very true; I should have clarified that the ground is frozen solid right now and I'm starting seeds indoors. Some of the seedlings will go out in the greenhouse in 5-6 weeks, and then I'll start planting cold-hardy stuff outside around mid-March. This is the earliest I've started things since moving to this area, but I'm hoping it will pay off, and I'll be able to make way for starting the warm weather seedlings in February/March for ~May 1 planting outside.

Makes sense. It's good to extend the growing season as much as possible. May 1st would be a few weeks too early for us to plant anything susceptible to frost outside, so there's no real advantage to starting things now unless you heat your greenhouse.

Lack of light is also a killer for us when it comes to starting seedlings early; the days are short (6-7hrs) and it's often pretty grey, so seedlings tend to get very leggy if started too soon, unless you have growlights. I'd expect that's much less of an issue for you.

Yep, grow lights are really necessary to get good seedlings. I just bought a new T5 flourescent setup and I'm looking forward to seeing how the seedlings do under it. I figure it will just about pay for itself this season with the number of seedlings I'm planning to raise vs. if I bought the same number of seedlings. Once it's warmer during the day, I try to cart the tomato seedlings out to the greenhouse each morning because nothing is better than natural light, but it's a PITA. The colder weather crops can move to the greenhouse earlier since it provides them that extra protection from storms and so on, and they might get cold, but not frosted.

Convinced my wife that spending so much money on restaurant and convenience meals every weekend is not good, after she asked me if I had planned anything special for dinner while watching the game (Danger, Will Robinson!) I said maybe nachos. She was scheming planning to take our daughter out to dinner, and instead conned her mother into paying invited her mother to dinner. It's really a slog trying to wean the family off of the lifestyle inflation of the past few years, but I'll take it as a small victory.

Do you do the cooking on a regular basis? I know for me, one of the reasons to go out is that I am tired of cooking. If you do not regularly cook meals, that may help in the transition to less eating out. Also - it is only fair too. You are the one who wants to go out less, but if you are not willing to cook, that means you are expecting her to do all the extra work involved. If you do regularly cook - good job.

ETA - I just saw a few posts up you are cooking more. Good idea.

Eating out is the big weak spot for us. One thing I got my more spendy husband to do is to agree on an amount that we will spend on eating out per month. If it is used up by the 20th of the month - no more going out until the 1st of the next month. We have also agreed to limit ourselves to only 1 beer with dinner, so that helps lower the bill. I am the tracker of these expenses, so I actually announce we are done $50 early. :-). (I figure that accounts for unreported expenditures.)

This didn't really save money, but helped with the goal of FIRE in 7 years.

Instead of posting finances on a graph in the kitchen where I would regularly see it and be motivated (but so would the kids and their friends), I made a stealth sort of chart.

I printed 2 free coloring sheets. One has a series of circles - each circle will represent 1K of mortgage debt and will be colored in when paid off. The other is a bouquet of flowers and each flower will represent $50K of increase in net worth and will be colored in when reached.

The coloring sheets were put on the kitchen wall so I can be reminded of my goals everyday.

This didn't really save money, but helped with the goal of FIRE in 7 years.

Instead of posting finances on a graph in the kitchen where I would regularly see it and be motivated (but so would the kids and their friends), I made a stealth sort of chart.

I printed 2 free coloring sheets. One has a series of circles - each circle will represent 1K of mortgage debt and will be colored in when paid off. The other is a bouquet of flowers and each flower will represent $50K of increase in net worth and will be colored in when reached.

The coloring sheets were put on the kitchen wall so I can be reminded of my goals everyday.

I love this idea! I can be an aesthetically driven person (who isn't??) and I feel like completing a picture would actually be more motivating to me than one of those "progress thermometers".

This didn't really save money, but helped with the goal of FIRE in 7 years.

Instead of posting finances on a graph in the kitchen where I would regularly see it and be motivated (but so would the kids and their friends), I made a stealth sort of chart.

I printed 2 free coloring sheets. One has a series of circles - each circle will represent 1K of mortgage debt and will be colored in when paid off. The other is a bouquet of flowers and each flower will represent $50K of increase in net worth and will be colored in when reached.

The coloring sheets were put on the kitchen wall so I can be reminded of my goals everyday.

I love this idea! I can be an aesthetically driven person (who isn't??) and I feel like completing a picture would actually be more motivating to me than one of those "progress thermometers".

I made myself an excel house with each brick representing 1k of mortgage debt. Every time I paid off another 1k I changed the colour of the brick and wrote in the cell what month it had been achieved in. Really motivational. I got up to the upstairs windows.............. then we bought another house........................oops.

Downloaded free items to my Kroger's plus card. This week they are offering daily freebies instead of the normal Friday free item. Had to get gas there this morning. Used fuel points for savings of $.40/gallon. Went into the store and got my free items including 6 pack of flavored water, a yogurt which I had along with my breakfast and pack of Trident.

Had an unexpected 2 hours between meetings with no work to do, so I made up a meal plan for the coming week that includes pantry ingredients and what's currently on sale at the grocery store; we should be spending about 80$CAD out-of-pocket (plus pantry ingredinets: about 55$ in USD these days....) for a week's worth of food for a family of 3, 3 meals/day, of good food we actually want to eat. Note that this includes about 30$ worth of milk (toddler, plus milk in Quebec is 6.50$/gallon minimum...)

In my house we have a bad habit of neglecting to eat the last bits of cereal in the boxes, then rediscovering them when they are stale. Today, I combined two boxes (different brands) of cereal dregs to make an odd tasting but nutritious snack. I also printed out confirmation that I got my flu shot and will get a $10 gift card from work as a result.

I'm all out of tahini, and I will NOT be buying more to replace it! Plenty of olive oil makes you barely notice, and adding a can of roasted jalapenos makes you not notice at ALL! And who doesn't love jalapeno hummus? (Rhetorical. If you don't like it, don't tell me- it's my happy place).

I also got 5 free large mason jars from my local buy nothing group. I'll also be getting 2 stainless steel water bottles tonight. Gifted a silky robe and 2 tank tops from my wedding this summer, and a pair of yoga capris that were too small.

Packed yummy leftover loaded baked potato soup and focaccia bread for lunch.Threw an extra $10 at the credit card and an extra $10 in the emergency savings. Just because. Submitted form for (pre-tax) dependent care reimbursement. That will all go into the emergency fund, as well.

Got a headlight changed at Walmart today $18 including installation (cheaper than Autozone without installation) and had my watch battery changed while I waited for the headlight. I almost bought two batteries for $6.88 but decided to go ahead and get one battery installed for $5.98 because I don't have anything else that uses the same kind of battery. So either 90 cents saved or $2.54 wasted, depending on how you look at it. I also managed to resist buying anything else in the store.

I posted a new ad for my car on Craigslist, and I made an appointment at Carmax to get the car appraised if it hasn't sold by Monday.

I'm a volunteer tutor(mostly math) and met with my student last night. Her mom ended up buying me dinner as a thank you, which I chose the $13 Kobe Beef burger. Free dinner! I then did my weekly meal prep for work lunches.

Thanks, everyone!!! Being able to post here and read about everyone else's progress, as well, has had a huge impact on me. Thank you!! My initial goal (last January) was to eradicate all non-mortgage debt - and that is now done . . . . so now what?

Basically, business as usual (so many good habits have been formed over the past year!) and instead of paying for the past, I now get to build up my future!

* homemade lunch brought to work* researching a side gig idea* re-evaluating savings accounts and goals* will declutter pantry tonight to get a better idea of inventory before stock up shopping this coming weekend

I thought I had lost my gloves, so I bought replacements at Walmart (the $2 stretchy one-size-fits-all kind).

When I was putting away the groceries from that trip, I found my old gloves. Now, I should have taken the new ones back, but I decided to keep them since they are touch-screen compatible and the old ones weren't.

Then Mr. FP got a hole in HIS stretchy gloves. Instead of buying another pair, I just gave him the ones I had bought. How often do I REALLY need to text outdoors in the cold, anyway?

1. Reset the auto insurance to annual pay to save around $70.2. Went back to the grocery store service counter to get a refund when I discovered I had been charged for 21 avocados instead of 2 avocados.3. Just cleaned out under the sink so the plumber could come today (saving money long-term by preventing a leak that would flood myself and downstairs neighbor, but costly in the short run, sigh. On the other hand, will pay any amount of money not to have to interact with said neighbor). When reorganizing, realized I needed a container of some kind to hold sponges, small items, etc. Realized I had an old trash can from my previous home that was perfect for the job!

Bitch Magazine, on feminism and money and household labour. Gotta put that women's studies minor to use somehow, right? ;)

Where did you get your start in writing? I like to write and have some professional experience in research and writing, but I've never published an article. We have at least two common areas of interest, frugality and feminism, so perhaps you could recommend some sites to consider. (My other topics of choice include thrifting, politics, satire and advice.) I had thought about pitching to xojane.com but their content quality has deteriorated significantly in the past few years. While I'm no longer constrained by the nature of my work to not publish anything, I still have to give some consideration to mainstream standards of respectability.[/quote]

When I'm making fiddly, time-consuming dishes with a lot of assembly time, like lasagna or stuffed shells, I make two batches at a time. It doesn't take much more time versus one batch because the sauce/noodle/filling prep time is basically the same, and it's not that big a deal to put in a little extra assembly time when you're already mentally in lasagna-making mode. Also, it's nice if a recipe as written leads you to have an extra half-pack of whatever left over. Example: today I am making Mexican stuffed shells to take to a potluck at work, and am making two pans so we can have one pan to eat at home. The recipe calls for ½ brick of cream cheese, and since we don't eat cream cheese much, that just invites the other half brick to sit around going bad. Two batches means one full brick of cream cheese used. Easy peasy. Alternately, if not for the potluck, I'd just freeze the other batch for later.

I had a bad Starbucks habit for the last year and since getting on the MMM train I've scaled down sbux to only Sat and Sun (each $1.89).

Yes! Way to go! I had a hard time giving up my fancy cupcake obsession. You're moving in the right direction!

Thanks Alpacas!! oh yes... the cupcakes... LOL... luckily I love to bake, so now it's homemade apple cake and cinnamon streusel cake on the weekends. Just got a 10 lb bag of flour for $7.97 at Walmart. That's a whole lot of streusels. :)

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Quebec. This is pretty standard for employer insurance. My insurance is actually considered to be really crappy here because it 'only' covers 400$/year of massages and 400$/year of therapy. Also private insurances need to match the (obligatory if you don't have any other insurance) provincial drug plan... which has a maximum payment of under 90$/month. You need 1K of meds per month? Your cancer treatment costs 5K/month? No problem. 90 bucks.

Oh, and for the record, this level of private insurance for my entire family costs 94$/month.

Parked on the street instead of in the "official" parking lot for the pediatric dentist. Saved ~$8.

Despite being told "No, the new company doesn't offer dental coverage," poking around on our health insurance revealed that they DID appear to bundle in pediatric dental insurance. Receptionist called in with our numbers and found out we are fully covered! Saved ~$250-300 out of pocket for the two kids. Yay!

Quebec. This is pretty standard for employer insurance. My insurance is actually considered to be really crappy here because it 'only' covers 400$/year of massages and 400$/year of therapy. Also private insurances need to match the (obligatory if you don't have any other insurance) provincial drug plan... which has a maximum payment of under 90$/month. You need 1K of meds per month? Your cancer treatment costs 5K/month? No problem. 90 bucks.

Oh, and for the record, this level of private insurance for my entire family costs 94$/month.

My girlfriend is in Alberta - I think she gets 12 massages a year? I forget. Infinitely more than what my insurance provides here in the States (i.e. none). :)

Today I went for the little groceries I need with a list and during lunch break just with a shopping bag.

Results: - I buy less if I have to carry it instead of pull my little cart.- I decided to pick up only half of what was on the list because some of the items weren't on sale and it wasn't an immediate NEED. - Walked out with $20 paid and $5 cash back in reward points. - If I can stay away from stores this weekend, this will be all I need for the rest of the week. Yay!